


Sea Lover

by VSSAKJ



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Night, ToT: Monster Mash, Trick or Treat: Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-20 18:53:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12439422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VSSAKJ/pseuds/VSSAKJ
Summary: Meagan Foster has a bad habit of falling for all the wrong women—and Alexandria Hypatia is no exception.





	Sea Lover

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sath/gifts).



> Happy Halloween! I hope you've had a great Trick or Treat Exchange. I loved the idea of selkies in the Dishonored universe, since it's a series with so much mystery tied up in the sea.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been at sea.”

Hypatia’s voice was unexpected, deep and hushed at the same time. From her seat on a crate, Meagan raised a brow in Hypatia’s direction and gestured back towards the lights sparking to life in Karnaca. “This isn’t at sea. We’re within swimming distance of the shore.”

Meagan thought she could see a shiver on Hypatia’s skin, but Hypatia only cleared her throat slightly, gripping her own elbows. She turned towards Meagan in the waning light, her smile weak and her tone apologetic, “You’re right, of course. We’ve hardly gone anywhere. The Institute’s right there.”

Meagan followed her gestsure and indeed, there it was: the Institute was hulking and shadowed in the quickly-waning sun. Hypatia seemed unable to tear her gaze from it, shifting from foot to foot and twisting her hands together. Meagan thought she could see something slung over the railing in front of Hypatia, but with night rolling in the way it was, she couldn’t pick out where the object ended and the darkness began. After a long moment of anxious motion, Hypatia spoke again, “Where is it that Emily’s gone today?”

“The Aventa Quarter.” Meagan replied, pushing herself to her feet and squinting towards the shore. _That_ was a more concrete thing to engage with. Based on the maps in the hold and the slices of skyline lit up by streetlamps, she thought she could pick out the right area... Her exhale was a stronger sigh than she meant for it to be. “She’s gone to confront that bastard, Jindosh.”

There was a splash, and Meagan whirled around to see that Hypatia had gone.

“Shit.” Meagan hurtled across the deck and peered overboard; the water was as dark as the damn Outsider’s eyes, swallowing even the possibility of her own reflection. She couldn’t even see the ripples. “Hypatia?!” What was the point in saving someone from a cage if they went and drowned instead? Feeling stupid, she leaned out over the railing, reaching towards the water like she might somehow grab hold of a floudering hand.

Something shifted, and she found herself splashing overboard as well.

Meagan knew how to swim. Meagan knew how to kick hard and flail towards the surface, but what she didn’t know was how to push through the bottom of a boat when one found herself trapped beneath it. She grabbed at the ridges on the cold iron bottom of the Dreadful Wale, trying to feel the arc of the hull and haul herself towards what she hoped was the surface. It was fucking freezing.

Something large and solid pushed her body, and despite everything she opened her mouth to scream.

Saltwater flooded her throat and every instinct demanded that she cough, but she clamped her mouth shut and kicked and prayed the surface would hit her soon. Water was everywhere: she felt like she’d been under the surface for hours. The creature pressed by her midsection again, and Meagan was sure she was going to die.

 _‘What a stupid way to go.’_ Meagan thought to herself, as the sensation of flooding filled her eye and her thoughts became water-logged and slow, _‘After everything I’ve done.’_

Then, air.

The coolness of night touched her face and suddenly she was coughing and spluttering and _breathing_ , her arms fastened around something smooth and firm and strangely warm. When her eye stopped streaming and the black spots filtered out of her vision, she blinked and realised it was Hypatia she was clinging to… only, her body was something else. Gone were the arms and legs of a skinny, overworked doctor: in their place was a solid, muscular body, like the animals that sometimes swam in the wake of her boat.

Meagan couldn’t speak. Above the water, Hypatia’s face was human, her hair longer than it had been—was it really only?—minutes ago. She realised she was seeing largely by the light of Hypatia’s eyes, glowing brightly like the colour of the moon at night. Hypatia spoke simply, her voice curiously unchanged, “I think you’ll freeze to death if you stay in here with me.”

That was a sensible comment. Meagan could hear herself speaking a much less sensible one in response, “Is this… something to do with the Crown Killer?”

“Grim Alex was something else.” Hypatia laughed, and Meagan caught herself leaning into the sound despite the cold gripping her very bones. “This is me. I am this.”

 _’You’re beautiful.’_ Meagan heard the thought before she could stop it, and to muffle it she gestured weakly back towards the Wale. Hypatia flicked her body and they moved closer to the wall of the boat, near enough that Meagan could reach out and grab the edge. It wasn’t so strange—she’d been a part of stranger things.

“Up and out.” Hypatia gave a great thrust so Meagan could clamber up to the railing; when she hauled herself over it, she swore under her breath, cursing the shivers that had set her body shaking. She hadn’t felt this ungainly since she’d lost her arm and eye all those years ago. Still, she turned back, her eyes drawn to the brightness of Hypatia’s eyes.

Hypatia shook her head—the motion seemed strange when Meagan knew the rest of her body didn’t match. “You should go get dry.”

Dry sounded impossible, but with her teeth chattering together Meagan couldn’t disagree. She strode a few steps across the deck, then paused, raising her voice, “Are you going to be okay in there?”

Hypatia laughed again and Meagan ached. “I couldn’t be better.”


End file.
